Mr. Makow,

As an American, I am proud to call you one of my own. You demonstrate honesty, intelligence and courage. Most of all--as Samuel Johnson cautioned when seeking the truth--you "first get rid of all the cant." --It's disheartening, then, to see so many people attack you according to Pavlovian "conditioned responses". What I'm getting at is the fact that you're allowed to excoriate any kind of evil when it relates to anyone--but the Jews. As someone from a Jewish background, one would think that others would appreciate your rational call for objectivity. Alas, no. They continue to react like programed robots when the term "Jew" is even brought up. Some inner censor pops up and immediately leads these people to paint anyone with either one of two brushes: Anti-semite, or "self-hating Jew". There is no room for criticizing Israel or Jewish culture (in the programmed minds of these flesh-coated automatons.)

You, for instance, allude to the hatred and xenophobia in the Talmud. You are correct. The Talmud--as with the Old Testament or the Koran--is an old book written in a pre-politically correct age. But, whereas Jews are given a special dispensation, Arabs and Christians are treated as if--in the 21st Century--they're supposed to be responsible for verses or ideas written millennia ago by people in the Middle East.

I mean, how many times I've longed for someone of logic and honesty to say, "Sure, you quote the Koran to demonize Arabs. But do you really believe that most Muslims hold every belief expressed by some prophet in the Middle Ages--as they live in the 21st Century, drive cars, pay mortgages, chat on the internet?" --Of course, out-of-date concepts exist in the Koran. In the Christian New Testament, it's explicitly said that women are not allowed to speak in church; also that homosexuals would not inherit the kingdom of god (that they'd be barred from Heaven along with liars, theives, murderers, etc]. How many modern Lutherans hold to these ideas written 19 centuries ago?

Likewise, with the Jews. If we really believe that religious people obey the scriptures to the letter, how come we don't see Jews sacrificing animals to appease Yahweh after their sinning? How many "harlots" are stoned to death by pious communities? --The answer: Zero. None. . . . But whereas it's okay to quote the Koran and pretend that modern Arabs follow the "scriptures" down to the letter, it's forbidden to cite similar passages from the Talmud. It's almost thought-crime to admit that the scriptures studied by people in yeshiva are filled with all sorts of vile things.

And it's an even worse offense if one produces explicit examples of xenophobia or bigotry in the 18-volume Babylonian work. The person with whom you're talking will invariably shut down (almost like a machine) and dismiss you before you can say anything further, muttering feebly, "You're just a self-hating Jew [and/or anti-semite]."

What's good for the goose is apparently NOT good for the gander.

Double-standards are applied with insane flamboyance.

Thank God there are still honest men like you around. People who act like modern versions of Diogenes, waving your lanterns in the bright light of full day--to cast a brutal glare onto human dishonesty and stupidity.

Dan

Henry,

If hate crime laws can be proven to be effective in reducing crimes against protected minority groups, it would seem to me that they violate the equal protection clause in the Constitution. (i.e. I have less protection of law against an assault than a minority.) I wish someone familiar with constitutional law would consider this for a class action lawsuit.

Thank you.

Kurt

Hey Henry

Good work on this article. Everyday I go to University I walk past the "Women's
Room"(Men don't get one of course), and see a poster about homophobia. It
defines people who disagree with homosexuality as haters, intolerant and of
course violent. People who have a reasoned moral objection are merely dumped in with the actual homophobic people.

I was just talking to my parents today about anti-semetism as well and my father mentioned how the Jewish council dislikes him here. The reason of course is for telling the truth about the Israel-Palestine conflict. It makes me angry but I have to learn to hold that back and lead by example.

Good work as always Henry.

J

Dear Henry,

Thank YOU!

I wish there were more people like you! speaking
openly about such an important issue, which deeply
concerns so many of us. It is scary, if things will
progress the certain way where we, or rather our
children will find ourselves as years will go by, what
our values will become. What will come next? what will
be invented next to destroy our values and values of
the family totally...

Thank your for your articles. They are much needed
otherwise with all the propaganda, we (heterosexual
people) with our strong traditional family values are
forced to feel like it is us who are NOT normal.

Many thanks again!

Grateful Reader :)